Skins and the Teen Drama Rebellion: Why it’s not a Cautionary Tale

Skins1By Amanda Festa

“Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive.” – Josephine Hart

There was something that drew me to the British teen drama Skins.  It was gritty and intense, approaching issues in a way that wasn’t sugar coated and didn’t always end with a convenient lesson and a well-timed group hug. Because sometimes in life shit just happens. And it was refreshing to find a show about teens that are not thirty-year-old men masquerading as high school sophomores.  I’ve heard the show be described as realistic, and while there are parts of it that are extremely indicative of contemporary youth culture, if it is real, there is something horrific to be said about the current conditions of adolescence that is noticeably absent from the CW Network.  Continue reading